The invention relates to an application part for use in either rigid or flexible endoscopes and having a viewing channel, and a working channel extending parallel to the viewing channel. The working channel is equipped with a guide as well as a defined stop for an insertable fiber optics waveguide which can be coupled to a laser light source.
A device of this nature is known, for example, from DEP No. 29 45 080. This device is used for endoscopic laser irradiation of urinary bladder tumors with the laser light emerging from the light waveguide being directed directly onto the tissue to be irradiated. The object of the present invention is to provide an application part for rigid or flexible endoscopes, with which fragmentation of concrements, such as bladder, urinary bladder, kidney or gall stones within living bodies, becomes possible.
The objective of the invention is achieved through an application part for flexible or rigid endoscopes wherein the working channel has an optics arrangement for concentrating the laser light emerging from the fiber optic wave guide onto a punctiform region and, further, the working channel extends beyond the optics arrangement toward the punctiform region to form a shock wave reflector. Moreover, a flushing channel is provided having an outlet opening which is at least partially directed toward the face of the optics arrangement.
A device for fragmenting a solid body is described in the earlier application No. P 35 06 249.5. This device, however, does not serve as an application part for a rigid or flexible endoscope.
The application part according to the invention can, for example, be either integrated into a rigid endoscope or placed onto a flexible endoscope. With an endoscope equipped in this way, bladder, urinary, kidney or gall bladder stones can be directly fragmented into extremely small fragments with shock waves, without the shock waves having to pass through the body, and with the stones under observation continuously throughout the procedure. The fragments can then be flushed out without problems or they can be passed naturally.
Below the invention is described in greater detail in conjunction with an embodiment represented schematically in the figures, in which